


Refracted Light

by Lightonhisfeet



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Study, Human Experimentation, Mild Gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 22:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18647458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lightonhisfeet/pseuds/Lightonhisfeet
Summary: Trent Ikithon catches wind of three Blumenthal prodigies. Bren is unlike the others. A light follows him. It's ingrained in him.





	Refracted Light

Cerberus business was difficult but rewarding. Master Ikithon was hard at work with his latest scheme. He and a few other wizards in the Assembly developed a theory. Deep under the Soltryce Academy in one of the many stone experiment chambers, Trent and his handful of assistants worked over their subject. Tools and glittering gem dust danced through the thick air. Sterilized metal cut through skin like the practiced hand of a butcher. Strapped too a metal table was a young wood elf passing in and out of consciousness. Tranquilizer’s had been given too the young elf so as not too kill the subject halfway through this time. Trent demanded results.

Trent Ikithon spoke his thoughts while a secretary hurriedly wrote them down in a book. The bottom half of the wizard’s face was covered in a thin cloth, hiding his mouth from the blood that squirted from the work at hand. Only his dead eyes could be seen in his face. “-So many spells and rituals use crystals as a catalyst to maintain mana. The location these crystals were grown can strengthen or weaken the magic they are used for.” He lectured too the secretary; his other students stood by holding tools for the wizard’s next step. Or too stay out of the way of a Master at work. “Since the Calamity we have used gemstones and precious metals too focus our magic. It is better a wand explode then one’s hand when a miscast occurs.”

With a flourish of his scalpel another entry point is carved. Then a shimmering amethyst floats into the raw bleeding wound. Its rough edges stood an inch out from the elf’s skin. What little candlelight in the room there was, reflected dully on the stone. “So, it stands too reason that with more stones involved, the more mana that can be stored and used. Giving a person that is not magically inclined, the ability too channel mana through them.” Slowly yet surely, gems of all colors and sizes drifted into the incisions left by the wizard. Two acolytes busied themselves applying poultices too the skin and casting low level Restoration spells on the elf. Making sure that the subject was still alive and somewhat coherent.

When they were finished, the elf was shimmering like a fish from a child’s storybook. Trent snapped his fingers in the secretary’s face. The small gnome flipped too a new page and readied her quill.

“Subject appears too be stable.” He said while readying a cantrip. “Today’s experiment will be Necrotic magic. With the success of Evocation and Transmutation from the two previous subjects, Necromancy will be another strong candidate for future mages. It is effective, and the chance for collateral damage is very limited.” Trent casted Chill Touch and the stunned elf.

An image of Trent’s spidery hand materialized above the elf and rested itself on a shoulder. Yet nothing happened. It had certainly landed, yet there were no usual cries of pain that accompanied Chill Touch. Trent narrowed his skeletal eyes at the elf.

“Subject seems to be unaffected by the spell. Seems to be no physical change in the gemstones either.” Trent maintained the spell for another thirty seconds but there was no change in the subject. A change in the stone did occur. Specks of darkness appeared deep within the center of each glassy crystal. Trent noted the change. “Mana storage is confirmed.” He said proudly so far, the Hypothesis could float on the Ocean of Science. Until the storm of Experimentation crashed it. “Continuing.”

The wizard’s students and assistants stood behind him then. Most remembered how the first Evocation subject ended up at this stage. Two other acolytes that were there don’t remember anything anymore. Trent cast Blight on the subject. Dark miasma swarmed over the elf but the gaseous energy was sucked into the crystal’s like water into a sponge. Dark speckles grew into dark blobs deep in the center of each crystal. Yet they were not satiated.

“Continuing on.” He said a bead of sweat now tracing down his forehead. Excitement made a shiver go up the man’s back. The elf’s eyes glazed over the wizard. Trent wasn’t sure if the subject was staring him down or so far gone that eye sight no longer mattered. The wizard cast Finger of Death.

A green shadow of the wizard’s spider hand drifted through the elf’s soul. Every stone became black as pitch. The skin around each stone shriveled and twisted slightly. Liver spots appeared across the elf’s arms. What little candle light illuminated the room seemed too be weakened by the black stones staring back at Trent. Every wizard held their breath in the stuffy experiment room. The secretary’s quill was forming a pool of ink on the page as she stared into the elf’s many black eyes.

The subject seemed too stop breathing entirely but did not collapse under the weight of the spell. Their dark eyes stared into Trent’s and were unblinking.

“Subject seems stable.” Trent said slowly. Ready too cast Shield at any time in case this ended like Evocation. “Necrotic effects have appeared on subject. Rapid aging near insertion points and around eyes. Extraction beginning now.”

With the help of the acolytes behind Trent, the elf’s black stones were removed. Slowly at first too see if there were any adverse effects on the subject. None presented themselves and all crystals were removed, and wounds healed.

Trent was about too begin testing when there was a knock at the door.

A small page carrying a rolled note entered the room. The young woman averted her eyes at the sight of what was going on and handed Trent his summons. Looking at the wax seal the wizard sighed. “Begin cantrip test with the subject.” He said, annoyed he couldn’t do the test himself. “This does require some personal attention.” The wizard left his blood streaked face mask in the experiment room and left.

Prestidigitation cleaned the wizard as he ascended the many flights of stairs in Soltryce Academy. In an upper room Ikithon met with a member of Civil Influence. A few candidates in Blumenthal had caught Cerberus’s attention.

“Gifted magic users or something else entirely?” Trent asked looking through pamphlets of parchment listing the names and family history of three young adults.

“I believe,” the mage said carefully, “That they require your personal attention. I believe that they would be good for ‘personal training’.” Trent looked up from the parchment and locked eyes with the mage. They did not break away from the cold and searching gaze.

“Be careful where you say that.” Trent replied. “Bring them too Rexxentrum. Send two Detectors too sniff around Blumenthal. Ludinus will want too know of anything that gets picked up.” He studied the artist depiction of a boy named Bren, for a moment longer than the other two. “This one.” He said holding up Bren’s paperwork. “He is not magically gifted. Why bring him too me!”

The mage licked his lips, Trent could see a sheen of sweat on the mages face. “Bren, is not a traditional magic user.” He said lamely, “From what I can tell his growth is completely different then other magic users. Bren never started with cantrips or anything like that. The world just…” the mage hunted for the right word. Feeling the pressure under Trent’s gaze. “It seems too change around him, without him even realizing it. He is something more then an average mage Sir.”

Trent had heard something similar about a few other people around Rexxentrum. What was more disturbing is it sounded eerily close to Xorhasian folklore. _Kricks keep moving closer and closer._

*

After training the three children from Blumenthal for a grueling two months, Trent deemed it necessary for more knowledge. The three acolytes were doing adequate under Trent’s harsh rules. Bren however was still not magically adept compared too Astrid or Eodwulf. The boy had picked up low level spells but was still woefully behind the other two, and yet carried an energy around himself. A light followed him. It made Trent want to grind his teeth.

Under a sleep spell, Trent bored his way through Bren’s memories. His past, his emotions, his fears, his desires, his dreams. The wizard could have written volumes on how too read a mind. Yet Bren’s was more complex. It felt like many mind’s were squeezed into a small space. Many souls trapped in this one body. Memories and dreams and past’s locked from Bren’s consciousness. Yet unconscious, the door was cracked.

Trent looked through the crack. At the dozens of lifetimes that hid inside. A river of light flooded through the door and nearly swept Trent off his feet and into the sea of Bren’s unconscious mind. The wizard, an expert at his craft, could only catch snippets of memory and experience. Lines of Krick soldier’s in their unmistakable armor stood at attention. Forming massive stone structures with the flick of her hands. Gliding across darkened stone tiles. Flying with the wings of a massive raven.

The wizard pulled his mind away from the young mans, sweat running down his face and neck. He gasped for breath, his head pounding from the flood of light and memory. Trent looked at the sleeping Bren on the ground. Red hair shaved close too the skull. Big blue eyes closed gently as if nothing had happened.

Trent had read about this. Years before when he was still studying at Soltryce. A technique used in Xhorhas for royalty and upstanding individuals, if you could call those animals ‘upstanding’. Consecution. He knew about the dodecahedron in the Zauber Spire. He knew that it was somehow tied to Dunemis. He knew that Ludinus would kill too have Bren under his tutelage and experimentation. 

The egg of an idea split open in Trent’s head and a beautiful golden chick stuck it’s head out to sing.

A powerful wizard under his control that had a jumpstart in Dunemis? A secret that only he and one other mage in Blumenthal knew? Trent did not have the magic that night too double check what he needed. Yet tomorrow. After a rest.

Spending the rest of the night with Bren asleep, Trent closed the door in Bren’s mind. The flood of light and memory would only hinder his progress now, and Trent needed too be there when it opened again. He made sure that only he could open it. Or perhaps the dodecahedron? Trent mused on that until the next day.

Trent’s previous subjects with the crystals were not the same size as Bren. He was much more petite and was more susceptible too his magic. Strapped too a metal table the young man was given a leather belt too bite on. While Trent’s scalpel glided through the young man’s skin and crystals filled his veins, the Archmage was planning chess moves before his opponent knew they were playing.

Though he did not have many healing potions for Bren, the crystals gleamed in his skin. Sticking an inch from Bren’s arms, the crystals and gems were empty of energy. His head drooped while trying too keep the leather belt in his mouth.

Trent worked slowly and precisely with Bren. Casting Transmutation spells around him until the crystals were full too bursting. Usually he would test the limit of the crystals, too see how much mana can be stored in one person. However, when was he ever going too fine another canvas like Bren? A diamond in the rough waiting to be polished.

Slowly, each gem was taken from Bren’s arms. With no adverse effect he would finally be able too keep up with Astrid and Eodwulf. Yet now he would outclass them under Trent’s tutelage. He had never seen a mage that had been Consecuted before. The stories and myth’s he had heard from Xorhas made the Archmage’s mouth water with anticipation.

**Author's Note:**

> Been re-watching season 2 and Matt said the Beacon's light was "strangely familiar" too Caleb when he first used it. I have a feeling that Caleb was consecuted and is slowly beginning too remember his past lives. Because he gave up the Beacon, the Beacon's light was familiar too him, and so far he is the only character we know of that crystals had been implanted too boost magical powers.  
> I interpreted that crystal surgery as almost training wheels for people who either were not magically inclined or too artificially give magic too a person. Too give them a jump start on the wizard practice.


End file.
